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Putting Life Into Perspective with Father Ian Jeremiah

It’s Soulful Sunday here on My Pocketful Of Thoughts and it is only right to take a moment and give thanks for all the great things going on in our lives right now. Let us also take this moment to recognize all the phenomenal men and women who have served our country. We have much to be thankful for, yes?

Friday night I was reminded of a conference for the RCIA Congress, I had to attend for Saturday morning at 8 am. The event had completely slipped my mind. I had made all these plans for Saturday morning and was thrown off a bit. I am that person who needs to plan everything out in order to feel at peace with day. I can handle changes but it takes a moment or two to adjust.

I woke up on Saturday morning, after a few hours of sleep, reluctant to start the day. I admit that I had to drag myself there. The day started with Mass, which I suggest if you do not do it now, start off your day with God. When the alarm goes off in the morning, take a minute or two to say Thank You for all the things in your life now, that you’re thankful for. Then there was a half hour-ish break to eat a pastry and a cup of coffee. This was my first time attending the RCIA Congress and I haven’t explained what it is yet because at that point of the morning I myself was not sure what it was. Have you ever been told you have to attending something that you’ve never heard of? Do you not have some reluctance? I do not like that about me, but I am human. So at this point I am thinking, Are we starting yet? I looked around the room and saw a little over 100 people in attendance and I began to feel bad for taking up three seats with myself and my stuff. :/

9:15 am we started with prayer and were introduced to the day. RCIA is an acronym that stands for Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It outlines the steps for the formation for one to receive instruction about the Christian religion. It is the class I am teaching at my church. So, yes, this was a good reason to be at this event.

My reluctance of the event melted away with the first speaker, Father Ian Jeremiah. He captivated the audience with his stories of perspective on life and I could not stop taking notes. He was hilarious in his presentation but more importantly his words stayed with me. It is my wish to share them with you, not today but starting next week, My Pocketful of Thoughts will begin a short series titled Putting Life Into Perspective with Father Ian Jeremiah.

The one thing I will share with you today is that he reminded the group that we should take advantage of the Year of Faith. The Year of Faith, which began on October 11th and will run until November 24, 2013, is a year especially dedicated to the profession of the faith, through readings of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. While this is something I have been doing for the past couple of years, it feels a little different this year because I am going to be teaching this to others. So no longer am I just taking it in, I have to also understand it and be able to explain it in a way that it is understood by others.

The more I learn the more I want to share it with you. I ask that you not be reluctant, like I was on Saturday morning, but that you be open and just take it in. For a long time I was having an inner war with myself, I could not understand why I was so unhappy and angry. I had so many things to be thankful for, but I never looked at it that way. I kept thinking to myself, ‘I’m here, doing so much to better myself and I don’t understand why all these bad things happen to me‘. It only seemed to bring more bad things. After a long absence from church, I started to go again. I sat quietly in the back pews and I just took it in. Then one day it clicked. It wasn’t right away. It was over a year of going to Mass every Sunday. When it clicked I decided I was ready to become Confirmed in the Catholic faith. I studied for one year with Sister Alta Gracia. So I want to share that with others, but especially you, that sometimes you have to just take it in. Perhaps you’ll read something that will compel you to do the same and share.

I’ll leave you today with today’s second reading.

Heb 9:24-28 [Christ’s Sacrifice for Sin]

Christ entered into heaven to appear before God, not for sacrifice again, but to take away sin by his sacrifice. Christ will not die again but he will come to bring about salvation for those who wait for him.

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews

Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgement, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

-The word of the Lord.–Thanks be to God.

Let it marinate.

Until then,

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18 thoughts on “Putting Life Into Perspective with Father Ian Jeremiah”

Man, this feeling of reluctance seems to be rampant. In my own life, there are so many times when I have been reluctant to allow Christ control over my life, over the CIRCUMSTANCES of my life. Sometimes, I try to use the excuse that I’m open and willing to God managing the big stuff, but I don’t want to bug Him with the little stuff…like going to an event that I don’t feel like going to. He wants us to trust Him with that stuff, too. I’m really looking forward to your series!

I so here you Mama Brandi; There is the saying I hear now and again that “God helps those who help themselves.” I like to think that is what I am doing most of the time, but that reluctance sinks in at times, but we have to fight that feeling and push through it, right? When we do, we’re like ok, I see what you’re doing! Sometimes it takes a moment of just stepping back to reevaluate and to self internalize the reason for our reluctance. It is hard to give up control, I know it is especially for me, but I think, no I know that was my problem before. I cannot say that reluctance is completely gone, as I said was the case on Saturday, but I’m working on it. I am after all a women under construction.

You ladies are right on point and I’ve had the same struggles. DJ, I’ve especially been reluctant when it comes to learning more about my Catholic faith (specifically as it relates to RCIA) so I’m really excited to hear more about what you learned at the conference. I’ve been a Catholic all my life but have only recently (in the last few years) started to really appreciate and understand my faith. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Thank you so much for stopping by Christine and sharing this with us! I was born and raised in a Catholic family but I didn’t embrace, or I should say I didn’t really understand it in my heart to embrace it. Now that I have, I really see the difference of embracing ourLord had done for me. I shall continue to share my journey on my road of faith! Thanks again!

I am one of those holy roller Pentecostal Christian people. It never ceases to amaze me how much people have in common when they simply read the Bible and try to understand it. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.

I have been battling with myself recently about my own reluctance. Often my own reluctance comes from trying to follow my own will instead of God’s, and not trusting enough that He knows what is best for me. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Hey Aja, trust me when I say you are not alone. I struggle with this often, in everything. It takes me getting to the point of wanting to cry to say OK God, I know you have this and I’m just going to let you do you. Some things come easy and others well that’s for Him to deal with. Since I have been doing this, it helps a lot. Its one less thing to worry about! Aja I hope you continue to tune into my journey, and thanks for sharing with us!

If I could give you a hug right now I would, but since we have some miles between us, I just want you to know that it makes me feel good to be on this journey and even more excited that you’re here with me to! God has a funny way of doing that, giving us exactly what we need, when we need it the most! Thanks for stopping by!

Though I’m not religious, I do like the concept of openness that you talked about. Reluctance, negativity, self-doubt, and other negative thoughts/actions we take upon ourselves can be changed if we become more open and look within – open to new ideas, even open to old ones that we may have certain beliefs about already, open to understanding others and ultimately open to saying yes to ourselves and life in general.

Absolutely Kesha! I am so glad that despite the religious tone of my post, I still got across the idea of being open to every possibility! Regardless if we are spiritual or not there is something to take from this, that negativity keeps us prisoner. Being open to positive experience, including how we see and deal with ourselves, is so major! Thanks so much for stopping by Kesha and sharing your thoughts with us!